The Freedom Front Plus has its own ideas about why the smaller opposition parties did so badly in the general election last week.
Interviewed at the weekend, the Mulder brothers — Pieter, the party leader and Corné the chief whip in Parliament — reckoned that it was not the effect of the Congress of the People’s (Cope) practically poster-less surge, but the effect of a late hard-line campaign by the Democratic Alliance (DA).
The Mulder brothers reckoned that opposition voters had earlier in the campaign contented themselves with the notion that Jacob Zuma, the leader of the African National Congress (ANC), could never actually become president because of the charges of fraud, corruption, racketeering and money laundering that he faced.
”When the charges were dropped,” said Corné, ”people panicked. Then [Helen] Zille [leader of the DA], came on with her ‘stop Zuma’ campaign and people really thought she could. So they voted for her.”
Although parties like the United Democratic Movement, the African Christian Democratic Party and the Independent Democrats found their representation in Parliament halved, the Mulders found comfort in the notion that their party stayed the same — even though they had expected actually to gain a seat.
The general feeling among opposition parties after the results were declared was that the newcomer Cope had eaten into the ANC’s vote — mainly in the black townships where the DA has still not managed to make great inroads. — I-Net Bridge